Statoil Sells North Sea Assets to Austrian Rival

Oeyvind Hagen/Statoil, via European Pressphoto AgencyStatoil’s Heidun oil platform in the North Sea.

LONDON – Statoil, Norway’s state-controlled oil company, said on Monday that it would sell a package of North Sea assets to OMV, a smaller Austrian producer, for $2.65 billion.

Statoil is reducing its stakes in the Gudrun and Gullfaks oil fields in Norwegian waters, to 51 percent each. The company previously had a 75 percent stake in Gudrun and a 70 percent stake in Gullfaks.

The company is also selling to OMV its 30 percent stake in Rosebank, a big discovery in British waters being developed by a group led by Chevron, and a stake of nearly 6 percent in Schiehallion, another British field now being redeveloped by BP.

“We regard this deal very positively” for Statoil, said Peter Hutton, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in London.

Mr. Hutton said the transaction would allow Statoil to raise money from the Norwegian fields without ceding operating control. More important, it saves $7 billion in capital costs, notably on Rosebank, a deepwater discovery west of the Shetland Islands that is likely to be one of Europe’s most expensive projects in the coming years.

Statoil is selling the equivalent of about 2 percent of its production in 2014, Mr. Hutton estimated. It will be able to use the money on more promising projects, like Johan Sverdrup, a Norwegian field.

Investors are becoming increasingly concerned about rising capital costs at the large oil companies. In second-quarter results, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron all reported increases in capital expenditures while production and earnings fell.

The sales also show the influence of BP’s divestment program. Excluding its business in Russia, BP has raised about $38 billion since 2010 by selling about 400,000 barrels a day of production, according to RBC. Despite being under pressure after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP received substantially more than analysts expected from the sales.

Other oil companies have learned from BP’s experience that they can raise cash by pruning assets without losing their best properties. Shell, for instance, said on Aug. 1 that it would explore selling assets in North America as well as in Nigeria, where its operations have been hit hard by sabotage.

The Statoil transaction will probably have a greater effect on OMV, a midsize company that is trying to build up its output. OMV is adding about 13 percent to its production, now about 300,000 barrels a day, and around 17 percent to its reserves. OMV also gains options to participate in 11 exploration licenses.

“The transaction will provide a huge boost to OMV’s strategy,” Gerhard Roiss, OMV’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Heinz-Peter Bader/ReutersGerhard Roiss is chief executive of OMV of Austria, which is building up its oil production and reserves.

A version of this article appears in print on 08/20/2013, on page B2 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Norway’s Statoil Will Sell Some North Sea Assets to OMV of Austria.